Ruddock proud of team performance

Mike Ruddock insisted his Worcester Warriors had 'played all the rugby' as they suffered a heart breaking 25-20 defeat to Saracens in the Guinness Premiership clash at Wembley Stadium.

Back row Tom Wood dived over for a first half try and a penalty try put Warriors in the lead after an impressive display by Ruddock's men in the capital.

But a breakaway score from Neil de Kock broke Warrior hearts, after the accurate boot of Glen Jackson had kept the hosts in the game for long periods.

"We put a performance in that we can be proud of - unfortunately we couldn't pull off the result," said Ruddock.

"Although we lost, I think there will be a lot of fans coming away from the match thinking Worcester were the better team.

"I thought the surroundings inspired us. We also played some good rugby last week against London Irish and that gave us confidence as well.

"We are trying to play more rugby now the tackle area has settled down quite a bit. We are able to recycle the ball quicker and feel more confident that we can play the ball around and into space.

"We played with a lot of ambition and intent - I was really pleased with some of the execution.

"Our biggest disappointment was the amount the penalties we gave away. We allowed them to stay in the game when I thought we were playing the better rugby."

The turning point of the game came just before the hour when a Worcester break saw Chris Pennell slice through Saracens and come close to offloading to Chris Latham in the tackle.

Quick thinking from Saracens saw them counter and a long range move ended with De Kock scoring under the posts.

"That try changed the game and allowed them to play their game and kick for territory and pressurise us," added Ruddock.

"But up until then, if I am honest, they didn't look like breaching our line at all and scoring a try. We looked the better team for long periods.

"Breakaway tries are hard to defend against structurally. Otherwise we were comfortable and composed and weren't going to let them through.

"We were in control of the game, scored two tries and there was even a debate about whether Miles Benjamin should have been awarded a try before we went for the scrum.

"We looked by far the more threatening team, were playing all the rugby and at 20-15 felt we could have won it.

"The break we made saw Chris Pennell go thought and he looked to offload to Chris Latham. It could have been us under the sticks, but in fairness to Saracens they kicked ahead when we were totally committed to that attack.

"It was a good try and it broke our hearts really. But we will take a lot out of the game, we outscored them two tries to won and I thought we played all the rugby, particularly in the first half."